An ideal age to broaden children grasp of space, objects and people along with building their curiosity and thirst for broader experiences is 2 years +/-.
The main areas are the home, the playground and a yard - with or without grass. In each of these areas you can play with or without accessories, while we as adults need to figure out how to enable a certain amount of freedom, while setting boundaries and rules.

Four possible directions:

1. A hoop
a round object with a hole, colorful and very interesting, and there are lots of playing options with it.
play in-out which can develop to land/sea as the child grows older; ; roll it forward and ask the child to roll it back or bring it back by hand; spin it on your hand or body and let the child try and spin it; run towards it and sit inside. If there are several children you can draw a start line and each child will run towards its hoop/ the only hoop in a short race. You can also free play or dance with it, with or without music.

2. The playground
Usually we encourage the children to climb on ladders, slides, swing on the swings etc., or let them play by themselves.
You can add an adventure and discovery aspect - climb all the first level of all the ladders; crawling and looking for a hidden ball or hoop; passing through unusual passages at the different playground's facilities; hanging from every rope, pole etc. - which is also great for the shoulder belt and for balance.

Improvising the way they swing or slide - back and forth, together, to the sides, walking up the slide etc.

This might seem a bit intimidating and scary to you parents - and yes, it does require us to allow them more independence than we are used to, but this will enhance their learning skills, and especially will strengthen the joy of joint experience and revelations.

3. The body
the human body is a fascinating playground of its own for children. You can climb it, roll with it, make funny shapes and voices, balance with it, pull, jump etc.
Children are great mimics, and they love it when you mimic them back. Allow yourselves to loosen up, free your mind and make goofier stuff with the kids. You will all enjoy this, and they will also benefit from a higher self-esteem, better body vision, and lots of metrical advantages.
The main bonus is creating a closer bond based on mutual quality time while having a mutual fun activity.

4.Language
Language is an excellent and important tool. I recommend talking to the children as much as possible - during games and playtime, a variety of word for each experience, important concepts, rhymes, word and songs games etc.
Using more language variety and games will enrich their vocabulary and their ability to express themselves.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

As
part of the work I'm doing with my class I try to stimulate all the senses, and
to interweave different kinds of experiences and study methods - Both from the
notion that every child has a different way of learning, and from knowing that
different experiences (thinking, moving, imagining etc.) contribute to the
cognitive-physical-emotional development.

The different
experiences are part of the study material, all intended and
contributing to my main goal and labor as a teacher - building and reinforcing
the children'sself-esteem.

Every other week or
two we holda rhythm session in class - drumming, playing by a certain
rhythm, playing, dancing etc.

After watching the
video in which you see how musicpresents itself in different materialswe discussed various ways to
draw music. Is it possible? I asked the children how would they draw
different kinds of music.

I played a rather
melodic and calm song, and the children drew the music, The diversity was
immense: musical notes, letters, pictures, colors, textures, thoughts and
shapes.

We came to the conclusion that music can be drawn in many different ways and that it involves not only listening, but feeling, movement,
thought, criticism etc.

Session no. 2 -

I divided the class to
several groups of three, and each threesome was guided to show me some
sort of rhythm.

The originality blew
me away!

Some took a paper,
placed it on a table, then drummed on the table causing the paper to bounce
according to the rhythm. Others used sticks to play. Another group waved their
sweatshirts in the air, creating sound and air-movement.

And then we worked
with play dough and hand-colors. Each child received a big paper, and they
created whatever they felt like according to what the music stimulated in
them.

Later on, each childpresented his or her creation to the class with movement, sound, or

Session no. 4-

A mother arrived to
the class and gave a lecture on Kandinsky and "music in the arts".

Working with music and
combining it with unconventional demands encourages thinking, criticism,
openness, curiosity, interest and lots of fun.

The children enjoy
creating, playing, thinking, and collaborating. The challenges increase the
experience and enhance it. Additional subjects also arise, such as musical
instruments, different kinds of art, physics, science, creativity etc.

Personally, I enjoy
getting to know the kids in unconventional ways, not just by strictly teaching
the formal materials, thus, enabling each and every one of them to express
different and new parts of themselves; and above all I know that fun is a crucial element in class.